Bowl full of dreams
by pokemonperson
Summary: One-shot. Ever wondered why teuchi, the ramen guy, ever liked Naruto? why he and his daughter accepted him at their stand? well, here is my thought on why. Rated k plus simply because of subject of the matter of a painful life.


**I do not own Naruto or Pokémon. Pokémon doesn't have anything to do with this story.**

**Why Ichiraku doesn't hate Naruto.**

It was a cold and dark night. It was raining hard in Konohana as Ichiraku's was closing up. Teuchi was saying goodbye to his last costumer, and that's when he saw him.

A small boy huddled in an alleyway, quietly sobbing away, his tears being washed away by the rain. He recognised the boy. The demon brat, or so they call him. An orphan prankster of Konohana.

He was hated by about everyone not for his pranks, but because of the demon sealed inside of him. He never liked the demon fox. His brother was a shinobi, while he took the families business, and during the demons attack, Teuchi lost his brother as he tried to defend Konohana's citizens from the attack.

He hated the demon, and always wanted to confront it, but what he saw before him wasn't a demon, it was a kid. A lonely kid. And the only demon thing about him was the bruises and scrapes on his knees, for that was what a real demon would do to a child.

He knew of Konohana's hate on the demon fox, but to take it out on a mere kid? 'Disgusting,' thought Teuchi. The boy that saved them all by keeping the beast contained was being treated like the beast itself.

He decided to approach the child, wanting to know if he could help the boy cope, and that's when he heard it. 'grrrrrrrrr…' A small rumble came from the boy's stomach. Obviously he was underfed. Probably the orphanage's staff not wanting to serve the boy.

"Hey there," he said to the boy, who looked up at him with eyes filled with sadness and anger, "you hungry boy?" he asked.

"Why should you care?" he replied, looking back down.

"Well…" he started, "I own the ramen shop directly across from here, would you like a bowl of ramen? On the house."

The boy was taken aback from this statement of kindness. Someone… not showing him any hatred or disgust? He wasn't used to this. He was happy for once, without having to prank any other kids. He complied and followed the man into his ramen shop, wondering if something bad would happen to him.

"Ayame," Teuchu said to his 13 year old daughter, who was cleaning up the counter, "please start the pots, we have a guest." Ayame looked at the boy. She knew about the demon attack, but was never told about Naruto being the container. She was only 7 at the time of the attack. She saw the bruises and the look of pain on his face, and started boiling some water.

"So what's your name boy?" asked Teuchi as soon as the kid took a seat.

"N- Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto roughly let out, still not entirely used to this kindness.

"Uzumaki eh…" Teuchu remembered a Kushina Uzumaki, most likely this boy's mother. She was a regular at his stand, and if he recalled, and the wife of the fourth Hokage, although it was never officially announced to most villagers. He knew that nobody was to speak of the boy's parents by the thirds decree, if they had any information at all that is.

"Yeah," he nodded, "And thanks for the food, hadn't eaten for a while. Don't worry, I'll pay you back when I become a ninja. And even more when I'll be Hokage!" he gleamed with a toothy grin.

Teuchu smiled softly. The boy was showing a more positive emotion. "Hokage, that's a big goal kid. You think you can achieve it?"

Naruto looked at the man directly in the eyes, and said with a straight face, "I will be Hokage one day. I'll train and become the strongest ninja and take the role, then everyone has to recognize me and treat me with respect!" Teuchi smile grew wider. Despite the sadness that must be in his life, he still has ambitions and dreams that all kids have. Maybe even stronger. He also had a flashback of a distant memory, a certain redheaded girl fighting some kids picking on her, saying that she would be the first female Hokage one day. He was one the side, watching his brother getting what he deserved.

'Spitting image of his father, but his personality seems a spitting image of the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero girl, minus the bloody noses,' he snickered in his mind. "Well Naruto," he spoke, while Naruto was silently happy that someone besides the Hokage actually addressed him by name, "one day you will achieve your goal, you just gotta believe it!" Those words touched Naruto, and were never going to be forgotten. It was that phrase that just made him want to push forward.

"Really? You believe in me?" Naruto asked, happy that his awesomeness was recognized by this man.

"I…" Teuchi was saying, but was cut off by an incoming man.

"Hey Teuchi!" said the man, a villager who was a somewhat regular. Nothing out of the ordinary about him, except for the crocked nose. "I see you're still open. In that case, I'd like a barbeque…" he began, but stopped as soon as he spotted Naruto. "What is that brat doing here? Get out of here you pest!" The villager grabbed Naruto by the collar, pulling him off his stool. Teuchi immediately responded by whipping the man's hand, causing him to let go of Naruto.

Teuchi was ticked off to a new level, tired of all the villages' attitude towards the innocent kid, who turned out to be a great person. "The boy is a guest at our establishment," he said at the man who looked at Teuchi as if he was insane.

"But he's…"

"I know who he is!" he stated, "He is Uzumaki Naruto, the guy who's going to make your life miserable when he becomes Hokage!" the villager looked dumbfounded as Teuchi supported the demon brat, while Naruto was ecstatic that someone actually liked him enough to protect him. Before today, all he had was the old man Hokage, and it was his job to. This was one of the happiest days in his life. "Now if you'll excuse us, the store is closed. Comeback tomorrow."

The man mumbled something about a demon fox influencing Teuchi that Naruto couldn't really pick up. But Teuchi did. Boy was he going to be in some deep trouble with the Hokage when Teuchi told the Hokage of how he broke the s-rank secret law. "Um, guy?" said Naruto, Teuchi looked at Naruto, who was sitting in his seat again.

'Hm?' he asked.

"Thanks, for everything." He smiled. Teuchi felt something warm inside of his old heart.

"No problem kid. Nobody deserves to be treated like that." Teuchi got behind the counter as Ayame was finishing the bowl, pretending the whole incident didn't happen.

"Here you go!" she chirped, handing him the bowl

"Thank you," Naruto said, taking the bowl and some chopsticks.

He took some noodles, and took a big slurp. Teuchi and Ayame were waiting eagerly.

After a few minutes, Naruto spoke up. "This…" he began, "Is the best thing I've ever eaten!"

Teuchi and Ayame smiled. That night, Naruto ate their days profit in ramen, but they didn't care. They were both glad to see the kid in such a great mood. Naruto thanked them for the food as soon as he finished, and Teuchi told him to comeback anytime.

From that day forward, and the years to come, Naruto came to his stand at least once a week. By the time he was a ninja, Teuchi saw him less and less as he went on missions. But the times he did come, he was glad to see the cheery blonde. Teuchi never cared for the few villagers who stopped eating at his stand entirely as Naruto was welcomed, or that his stand was almost completely empty when he showed up, with people just getting up and leaving, he was just glad to see the beaming smile on the kids face.

The same smile he'll see when he becomes Hokage…

And pays him back for all those free meals…

**here was my first one-shot**

**so what do you guys think?**

**rate a review.**

**peace**


End file.
